Robot shortage in the workplace is BAD for business… because automated machines can boost flagging productivity, MPs say
- Shortage of robots in the workplace poses a ‘real danger’ to jobs, MPs will claim
- Report by Commons committee for business, energy and industrial strategy said true threat to growth is not firms using too many robots – but too few
- Findings come in spite of the Bank of England previously warning automation could put up to 15million people out of work – roughly half the workforce
By James Salmon, Associate City Editor For The Daily Mail
Published: 20:48 EDT, 17 September 2019 | Updated: 20:51 EDT, 17 September 2019
The shortage of robots in the workplace poses a ‘real danger’ to UK jobs, MPs claim today.
The true threat to economic growth is not firms using too many robots – but too few, a report by the Commons committee for business, energy and industrial strategy said.
The findings come in spite of the Bank of England previously warning automation could put up to 15million people out of work – roughly half the workforce.
The shortage of robots in the workplace poses a ‘real danger’ to UK jobs, MPs claim today (file photo, Mini works in Cowley, Oxford)
The UK had just ten robots for every million hours worked in 2015, compared with 167 in Japan, 131 in the US and 133 in Germany (pictured: File photo, Ford Motor Company’s 2005 Mustang vehicle on the assembly line, September 2004)
The cross-party group of MPs said investment in robot technologies would boost flagging productivity, particularly in manufacturing, and generate more jobs as well as safeguard existing roles.
It warned the UK is already lagging behind major economies, such as Japan, allowing them to ‘steal a march’ in the so-called fourth industrial revolution.
The UK had just ten robots for every million hours worked in 2015, compared with 167 in Japan, 131 in the US and 133 in Germany.
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